AN OFF-DUTY scaffolder clung to life after falling from a fire escape and wedging his head in railings – 25ft above ground.

The man is believed to have been playing a prank and performing handstands when he lost his balance and got stuck between the metal bars three storeys up.

Desperate neighbours were forced to hang on to the terrified man to stop him plummeting to his death. For a harrowing 30 minutes, his amateur rescuers strained muscles and sinews to keep the victim, who was facing skywards with his feet dangling off the fire escape, secure.

Kent Fire and Rescue Service arrived at the scene in Pier Road, Northfleet, to find the man, in his mid-30s, with his head wedged between railings.

His neck was strained backwards, his arms wrenched behind his head to grab on to the bars and his legs were hanging in mid-air outside the door of a town house.

Three firefighters quickly tied a rope around the victim to keep him from falling, but struggled to open the railings to free him.

A second pump arrived carrying specialist equipment to mechanically spread the railings so the man could be pulled to safety.

Neighbour Harvey Singh, 27, said: “He was shocked, big-time. His hands were like claws where he held on to the railings so tightly."”

A Fire and Rescue spokesman said the man was taken to hospital by ambulance crews for head X-rays, adding: “He was very lucky because he certainly wouldn’t have held on and he could have broken his neck.”

The man’s girlfriend was too upset to speak about the incident. The man himself is thought to be recovering at his mother’s house.